Today Jon and I were reminiscing about a trip we took about 4 years ago. We visited a castle in Ohio for a quick restful getaway. At the time we only had Sky and Alara; Abigail was not yet born. However, it was anything but restful! 

Once we got our room our first mission was to figure out sleeping arrangements. Our biggest concern was the safety of Alara. If Sky left his bed, there was a chance he could hurt her even if unintentional. Next, we needed to make sure nothing was in reaching distance for Sky to hurt himself. After rearranging some furniture and unplugging some lamps, that night Sky was tucked into the sofa bed and Alara was on the floor by our door. 

In this particular hotel, the rooms still had big tube televisions. The T.V. was placed snugly in a hole in the wall about five feet from the floor. (I promise the castle was very nice, just needed some updating!) Sky was far away from this particular T.V., we didn't think it posed a problem. 

So our night began with him jumping on his bed, and yelling. Sky's voice carries like a siren. I honestly think he likes the vibration he feels in his throat when he yells. Alara being subject to it from birth, sleeps right through it! (Abigail does too!) So, fortunately, Alara slept through this whole, wild night I'm about to unveil to you. 

Jon and I have learned, the more we check on Sky the longer he stays awake. So, unless we fear his safety or the safety of a fragile item, we try to leave him alone. 

After about 30 minutes of yelling and jumping, we heard movement of furniture. We now foresee no sleep in the near future for this kid (or us), and we need to place him back in bed. We moved Alara into our room for safety precaution. Then Jon took the first shift and put Sky back to bed and layed with him a while. Sometimes a little T.V. watching will silence Sky enough for one of us to get some shut eye. And sometimes puts him to sleep too. 

That's what happened... so we thought. About two hours later, Jon comes to bed to hopefully get some sleep. He said, "I think he's tired enough now to finally fall asleep." At this point, it's around 1am and we can hardly keep our eyes open. We were barely asleep when we heard a huge CRASH then laughter!! We both jumped out of bed and ran into his sleeping quarters. Sky had somehow reached the T.V. and pulled it out of the wall!! A huge, heavy tube T.V. was now on the floor! Thank God it didn't even touch him. And miraculously the T.V. didn't shatter to pieces, but the entire screen popped off the front and was dangling by wires! 

Sky was laughing, and we were beyond fried! 

I took second shift, and around 3am, Sky finally gave into sleep. After that night, we needed a getaway from our getaway! 

We investigated the T.V. the following morning, and discovered the screen appeared to have been "popped off" before as it had glue residue from a previous repair. So, we bought some Gorilla glue and fixed it ourselves! And, the thing still worked! It was a beast of a T.V.! IF it hadn't we would have paid for a new one. 

This trip was one of many that lead up to where we are now. I couldn't imagine traveling again without Safe Place! Having peace of mind about his and our daughters' safety, and an enjoyable, RESTFUL getaway is priceless. And now, we are able to share this same experience with other families in the same situation.

Looking back, we laugh so hard at this story. While we lived it, we wondered why we even left home! But we weren't created to be trapped in one place our whole lives, we must adventure. We must take risks.

I hope you enjoyed this memory of ours. Until next time...

Live without Limits